Comment 22 by Mark Ribbands :

I had no idea it was all so absurd; beyond satire even. For once, these are stories you really couldn’t make up. Are there any more?

Oh yes indeed. How long have you got?

Jewish dietary requirements also forbid the consumption of an animal "in the milk of its mother". What this practically means is that you can't have meat in milk sauces. Although it's ok to have chicken supreme, because as everyone knows, chicken is a kind of fish.

To be properly orthodox, however, not only can you not mix milk and meat. You also cannot allow them to come into contact with the same equipment. The practical solution is therefore to have two separate sets of pots - one of which cannot be used for milk, and the other cannot be used for meat.

But after that, it gets a bit tricky, because you have to use different pots and utensils for Pesach, and the same rules still apply. Thus you end up with four sets of pots. My ultra-orthodox colleague refused to deny that they are colour-coded.

My Jewish ex-gf was happy to eat pepperoni pizza, but only out of the cardboard or on paper plates. It was not allowed to come into contact with the normal plates. I couldn't help thinking she had rather missed the point of all this kosher stuff.

What's particularly baffling about intricate Jewish rules is that you are not actually required to believe in any of this nonsense. You merely have to follow the rules. It is ritual - and a ritual that has been vigorously preserved and defended for thousands of years. I wonder sometimes whether this is what most of religion really comes down to, and whether actually believing things and arranging your life around then is the deviant behaviour.